Chapter4

I walked out the main gate of the Thorn estate.

The cold rain hit my face, but I barely felt it.

Trent Maddox, the head bodyguard, stared at my bleeding legs in complete shock. He froze, but I didn't care.

I took out my phone. Alaric had given it to me, claiming it was for my safety. But I always knew it was just a tool he used to track me.

I threw it hard onto the road and stepped on it until the screen shattered.

Just then, a car pulled up through the heavy rain.

Lena, my nurse friend, got out. She froze when her eyes fell to the blood pouring down my bare legs.

Her face turned red with extreme anger and disbelief.

"Romy! Oh my God!" Lena ran to me. "Who did this to you? Did Alaric make you kneel?! I am going to kill him!"

I stood quietly in the rain. I didn't speak.

Lena clenched her fists. She pulled out her phone, crying and screaming in the storm. "I am calling the police! I am calling the news! He is a monster!"

"No." I grabbed her hand and said calmly. "He has the best lawyers in the city. The police won't believe a woman with a criminal record."

Lena cried loudly. She wrapped her jacket around my freezing body and tried to pull me toward the car. "Then get in! I will take you to the hospital! You are bleeding so much!"

"No." I stopped her hands. I looked straight into her eyes. "Take me to the airport."

Lena stayed quiet. She looked at me in shock. "The airport? Where are you going?"

I looked up into the dark, rainy sky.

"I thought about the nineteen-year-old girl who willingly went to prison for love," I said slowly. "But the boy she loved died ten years ago."

I looked down at my knees. I didn't feel any pain, only a deep sense of relief.

"I gave them my whole life, Lena. Now, I am taking it back. I am going back to my true hometown."

Lena cried even harder. She held my shoulders tightly. "But what about your son? What about Jude? And Alaric?"

"Jude called me a thief today. He hates me," I said. "And Alaric... he is dead to me. Let's go."

In the car, Lena used her medical kit to clean and bandage my knees. I sat very still. I used her phone to book the earliest flight out of Los Angeles.

My knees throbbed with sharp pain every time the car hit a bump, but I didn't make a sound.

At the airport, the pain was so bad I could barely stand. Lena fully supported my weight. I limped quietly through the security check. My clothes were stained with ash and blood. People stared and whispered, but I kept my back straight.

One hour later, I stood at the boarding gate.

Lena hugged me tightly. She cried loudly into my shoulder. "Live for yourself from now on, Romy. Never come back to this hell."

I nodded.

I took my ticket. I turned around and walked onto the plane.

I didn't cry, and I didn't look back.

I sat in my seat and looked out the dark window as the plane took off.

Goodbye, Alaric. I will never love you again.

---

In the Thorn estate.

Alaric put on his warm robe, smiling coldly as he looked at the glass door.

"She must be crying on the floor right now," he said lightly. "She will definitely learn her lesson today."

Odessa laughed softly behind him. "Let her kneel a little longer."

Alaric walked to the door. He was absolutely sure Romy would grab his leg the moment he stepped out.

He knew she had no money and loved him deeply. In his mind, she would never leave him, no matter what happened.

He pushed the door open and looked down.

"Romy, you can get up now—"

He froze.

The floor was completely empty.

He frowned. Usually, she was right here waiting for him. She must be hiding in her room, he thought, trying to make me feel guilty.

Then, he looked at the small table by the wall. There was his black bank card. Under the card, there was a stack of papers.

He picked them up, and his breath suddenly stopped.

Divorce Agreement.

A cheap trick. How could she divorce him? She would never leave, not even for their son! It was just a bluff to get his attention.

But his heart started to jump wildly. He walked fast to her bedroom.

"Romy!" he shouted, his anger rising.

He pushed the door open, but the room was totally empty. Her cheap jacket and old nursing shoes were gone.

"Maddox!" Alaric yelled. All the color drained from his face.

Trent ran in. "Sir?"

"Find her phone! Bring her back!" Alaric grabbed Trent's collar violently.

Trent froze. "Sir... the tracker is broken. We found her shattered phone in the drain on the street."

Alaric stiffened. His mind went totally blank.

He pushed Trent away and ran down the stairs, rushing straight into the security room.

"Check the monitor!"

He stared at the screen. He saw Romy walk out the gate in the heavy rain. She looked so small, but her back was perfectly straight.

She looked like she was walking to her death, yet she never hesitated.

She got in a car and never looked back at the house. Not even once.

The screen went black.

Alaric stepped back and his hands started to shake.

"Dad?"

A small voice came from the door.

Jude stood there in his pajamas. He held his bear, crying and looking very scared.

"Dad... Mom passed by me just now," Jude cried loud. "Her legs were bleeding so much. I called her Mom. But she didn't stop. Why didn't she look at me?"

Alaric froze. He looked at his crying son in horror.

He fully understood now. Romy always stopped for Jude. She fought like a madwoman just to see him. But today, she didn't even look at him. She really gave up.

He remembered Romy's face from yesterday. She cried in extreme pain and said, 'Where is the Alaric who dared to kill to protect me?'

Ten years ago, he killed a man to save her. He promised to hold her up forever.

Today, he laughed with Odessa, while he made his wife kneel outside in her own blood.

What has he done? He was such a fool.

Alaric grabbed his chest tightly. He couldn't breathe. The regret hit his heart like a heavy knife, making his knees go weak.

Romy really left.

And he finally realized the truth——He was the one who couldn't live without her.